Cost-Sharing Program Reduces Employer Healthcare Costs by 10%, Patient Costs by Nearly 30%

In a recent podcast, Christopher Whaley of the RAND Corporation discusses an article on reducing healthcare costs. The program takes advantage of negotiated rates with select providers for an array of surgical and orthopedic procedures. The authors report reduced costs for the surgical procedures examined in the study.

Whaley et al. note, “[E]pisode prices for three selected surgical procedures declined by $4,229, a 10.7 percent relative reduction. Employers captured approximately 85 percent of the savings, or $3,582 per episode (a 9.5 percent relative decrease), and patient cost-sharing payments decreased by $498 per episode (a 27.7 percent relative decrease).” Listen to the podcast here.

(Source: Alan Weil & Christopher Whaley, HealthAffairs, 3/9/21)